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have for expression. What was interesting for me was to find these two connected stories in what might appear
to be unconnected worlds.”
The two films are also tied by a lead performance that dives well beneath the surface, says
Aronofsky, who compares Portman’s commitment to that of Rourke. “The role of Nina is quite different from
anything Natalie has done before,” notes Aronofsky, “and she took it to another level. Playing Nina was as
much an athletic feat as a feat of acting.”
The challenges of making BLACK SWAN were also similar to the notably intense production of THE
WRESTLER, perhaps even harder. As secretive as the world of professional wrestling can be, Aronofsky
found the ballet world even more insular and closed-off to outsiders.
And then there was the training that Natalie Portman had to undertake in order to make the film’s ballet
scenes as incandescently lyrical as they are full of mounting tension and foreboding. “Ballet is something most
people start training for when they’re four or five years old and as they live it, it changes their bodies, it
transforms them. To have an actress who hasn’t gone through all of that convincingly play a professional ballet
dancer is the tallest of orders. Yet somehow, with her incredible will and discipline, Natalie became a dancer.
It took ten months of vigorous work, but her body transformed and even the most serious dancers were
impressed. I’m convinced that the physical work also connected her to the emotional work,” states Aronofsky.
Aronofsky notes that he was gratified to find a cast who could take on this challenge. They, in turn,
were attracted by a story that became a suspenseful, yet daring, odyssey into a dancer’s sudden rise and
terrifying descent.
Aronofsky finally got the chance to express his idea for BLACK SWAN ten years ago via a screenplay
by Andrés Heinz – a dark drama that took place on Broadway, setting up a perilous rivalry between an actress
and her mysterious understudy. Aronofsky was intrigued, but having grown up as a witness to his sister’s
shockingly tough training as a ballet dancer, he wanted to switch the backdrop to that of a premiere New York
ballet company. This change led to the creation of Nina and Lily, two competitive rising dance stars willing to
sacrifice anything and everything for that one perfect performance.
Even as he was engaged in other projects for many years, Aronofsky continued developing the project
with Mark Heyman (co-producer of THE WRESTLER).
It was Aronofsky’s idea to merge Heinz’s original concept with the story behind the world’s most
popular ballet, “Swan Lake,” which tells the story of a dramatic duel between innocence and wickedness. All
the while, he was also working with Heyman to create the macabre new twist which galvanized the tale. In the
final draft, the key elements of “Swan Lake” – swans, demons, spells and doubles – became entwined with
Nina’s psyche as it shatters into a psychosexual kaleidoscope of shards, turning her from a naïve young girl into
a dangerous, metamorphosed creature.
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